Face-plate for registers



PATENTED JAN. 5, 19'04.

' H. J. VALENTINE.

PAGE PLATE FOR REGISTERS.

APPLIOATION FILED DEC. 30, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED [STATES Patented January 5, 1964.

PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY J. VALENTINE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNO'R TO THE COLUM- BIAN HARDWARE COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 748,668, dated January 5, 1904.

v Applicatidn filerl December 30, 1902. Serial lie-137,201. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY J. VALENTINE, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in Cleveland, Ouyahoga county, State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Face-Plates for Registers, of

which the following is a specification.

' This invention relates to face-plates for registers such as are used for hot-air furnaces and for ventilation; and the objects of the invention are to materially strengthen and render the face-plates of registers more durable than heretofore and to obtain this greater strength and durability by constructing the face-plate so that it is lighter and more pleasing to the eye than heretofore when compared with registers possessing the same strength. To gain these objects, the faceplate is made of sheet metal, and the parts of the same are so combined and secured as that no warping is liable to occur.

My invention consists in certain features of construction and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and then claimed in such manner as not to necessarily limit the invention to the structure as shown.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan view of my improved face-plate for registers. Fig. 2 is a section thereof on the line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged section of a part of the face-plate on the same line 2 2. Fig.4 is an enlarged section on the line 4 4, Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is a section corresponding to Fig, 2 of a modified form of the invention, in which suitable insertions are shown for reinforcing the face-plate.

Referring to the drawings, the face-plate is composed of two thicknesses of metal, one thickness being composed of a plate member A and the other thickness of a plate member B, and these plate members may be either rectangular, circular, oval, or any other desired shape.

The upperplate member A of the face-plate is provided with'cross bars'or pieces a a in Z construct a sheet-metal faceplate for registers provided with hollow cross-pieces or ribs,

the natureof bridges, which in the form of the invention shown extend at right angles to each othergbut it will be evident from the scope of the invention that these cross-pieces plate.

thereby connecting the cross-pieces. connection is usually and preferably done plate.

may extend in any direction or be of any desired shape or curvature, depending upon the ornamentation to be imparted to the face- Between the cross-pieces Ct a ventilating-openings C are formed. The crosspieces a a are preferably semitubular or semicylindrical in cross-section, as this reinforces and strengthens the cross-pieces. The under plate member B is also provided with cross-pieces b b, which in the form of the invention shown are spaced the same distance apart and extend in the same direction as the cross-pieces a a, so that they may be matched with the latter. The cross-pieces b b are also approximately semicylindrical or semitubular in cross-section, their curvature being the reverse of the cross-pieces a a and being preferably of less widththan said crosspieces a a, so that the cross-pieces o, a may receive them within their opposite edges to hide the joints and prevent corners or edges in which dust or dirt may accumulate.

The cross-pieces of at least one of the parts or plate members of thecomposite face-plate have their edges disposed at an angle to the general plane of such part to stifien it, and this is the case whether the cross-pieces be semitubular or semicylindrical or any other shape when made in accordance with my invention.

The plate members A B are placed fiat together and pressed together in a suitable press, so as to force the cross-pieces b b into the channels of the crosspieces a a, the edges of the latter being pressed firmly or swaged around the edges of the cross-pieces b b, The

without brazing or any other connection bei tween the plate members than possibly a few rivets at around the outer frame of the face- The cross-pieces or ribs 0, a and b b, with the openings, may be formed in any suitable manner.

So far as I am aware it is broadly new to which may be either tubular or semitubular,

members are formed with transversely-curved cross-pieces or whether only one of them is so formed, the other being flat.

By the term tube-like portions used in the claims it is not intended to preclude approximately t ubular or tubiform parts having canals or passages extending therethrough, as any shell-like parts having a wall closing around a hollow therein are tube-like in the' sense intended. The tube-like portions will also have joints extending longitudinally thereof formed by the meeting together of the components of said tube-like portions.

' The hollow or tube-like construction of the cross pieces or ribs not only materially strengthens the face-plate and prevents the warping of the same, but it enables the faceplate to bemade lighter as compared with the ordinary face-plates of similar strength. The combined thicknesses of the thin plate members is not as great as the face-plates heretofore made.

So far as I am aware it is new in face-plates to provide a girder-like construction-that is to say, a construction in which the plate is composed of at least two layers or plate members which are so formed with cross-pieces or ribs as that each of the members, whether outer or inner, acts as a support for the otherthat is to say, in which the members are mutually supporting. This is extremely important in floor face-plates, as more or less weight has to be borne.

In Fig. 5 a modified form of the invention is shown, in which the tubular cross-pieces or ribs are reinforced by suitable insertions at desired intervals, these insertions consisting of metallic bars E.

A face-plate that may be applied to any register as desired by means of removable fastenings should in the most practical form manifestly have a rim of minimum thickness all around the ribbed portion, so as to lie flat against the register-frame. Such a form is shown in the drawings. Especially is this desirable when the face-plate has two thicknesses, at least so as not to necessitate that the register-frame be very deeply set into the receiving wall or floor, or if it set deeply, to avoid the objectionable protruding of the face-plate materially beyond the surface of the wall or floor.

I am aware that it is not broadly new in one type of face-plate for registers to provide a tubular skeleton portion through the openings in which the air passes, and I do not, therefore, broadly claim the same, as my invention in its preferred form is built up or composite and differs therefrom inthe provision of two layers of sheet metal suitably provided with tubular ribs of round or any other cross-section. It may be stated that the invention is not restricted excepting to a sheet-metal face-plate having a rim such as defined and provided with tubular crosspieces or ribs; nor is the invention restricted, except as to some of the claims, to a face-plate which is necessarily provided with mutually-supporting members.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A face-plate for registers, composed of a plurality of thicknesses or plate members of sheet metal, one having hollow cross-pieces or ribs and the other having opposing crosspieces or ribs spaced from said first-named crosspieces or ribs so as to form tube-like portions, substantially as described.

2. A face-plate for registers, composed of two thicknesses of sheet metal placed at their outer portions flat against each other, the said plate having tube-like portions surrounded by such flat outer portions, the joints of which tube like portions extend longitudinally thereof, substantially as described.

3. A face-plate for registers, comprising a plurality of mutually-supporting thicknesses or plate members, with corresponding openings and spaced opposing cross-pieces or ribs, said opposing cross-pieces or ribs forming tube-like portions between the openings, substantially as described.

4. A face-plate for registers, comprising a plurality of mutually-supporting thicknesses or plate members, with corresponding openings, and with cross-pieces engaged at the edges between the openings but otherwise spaced or separated from each other, whereby the mutual support and stiifening of the parts is effectuated, substantially as described.

5. A face-plate for registers, comprising a plurality of sheet-metal thicknesses or plate members, each provided with openings, the edges of which on at least one of the plate members are disposed at an angle to the general plane thereof to stiffen it, while parts of the other of said plate members are spaced away from the opposing parts of the first said plate member, and the said plate members being secured together to mutually stiffen and support each other, and to produce a tubular and open-work structure, substantially as described.

6. A face-plate for registers, composed of at least two thicknesses of sheet metal each provided with approximately semitubular or semicylindrical cross-pieces, the hollows of which are presented together and which crosspieces are secured to form tube-like portions substantially as described.

7. A face-plate for registers, composed of at least two thicknesses of sheet metal each provided with approximately semitubular or semicylindrical cross pieces, the edges of which cross-pieces are disposed in a plane transverse to the general plane of the faceplate, said edges being secured together to form tubes of the cross-pieces, substantially as described.

8. Aface-plate for registers, composed of at least two thicknesses of sheet metal each provided with cross-pieces, the edges of which IIO cross-pieces are disposed in a plane transverse to the general plane of the face-plate, said edges being swaged together to form tubes, substantially as described.

9. A face-plate for'registers, composed of at least two thicknesses ofsheet metal having openings and each provided with approximately semitnbular cross-pieces, the edges of which cross-pieces are disposed in a plane transverse to the general plane of the face plate to form tubes between the openings, substantially as described.

10. A face-plate for registers, composed c at least two thicknesses of sheet metal each provided with approximately semitnbular cross-pieces, the hollow sides of which are presented together and which are secured to- HARRY J VALENTINE.

Witnesses:

WM. M. POWELL, MYLES E. EWING. 

